I've been playing games on PC since my IBM XT, and I think that you're statement "How many of the people dishing out north of $300 on a GPU are competitive e sports players or popular streamers? Probably most of them are not." is completely off for a few reasons. I bought video cards that cost in that range in the 90s, hell they didn't even do 3D acceleration then. I have never been an esports player, and that wasn't even a thing back then. Higher end GPUs have always been expensive niche products that were targeting people that wanted the best performance and were willing to spend probably unwise amount of money for it. The chart in the post was showing the top of the line Nvidia cards, maybe of which were essentially "SLI in one card" halo products that most people weren't buying. If you think that $300 is actually still a reasonable price for a decent GPU, you are misinformed. The last GPU I owned that was less than that was Nvidia Riva TNT from STB that was which was $250 or so in 1998. My fancy 2D only card that I owned years before that was even more expensive (it was a Number Nine video card if you're curious). My current GPU was a super good deal at under $700 when I got it, and I never produce "frames that are not perceived", I still have a 60Hz monitor. I just like high resolutions and less GPUs struggle with playing things even remotely smoothly unless I turn down many of the settings.

Yes, I can still technically play many of these games on the steam deck or use a cheap GPU, but it will be play and look poorly, especially on my rather large high resolution monitor that I use for work.

I built my new PC in December 2024 because I knew Trump would fuck things up with tariffs, grifting, and general shitbaggery. So while all that did happen, I didn't anticipate the AI hype being an even bigger issue. If anything, I just wish I had bought more ram. I had planned on getting more later.

I priced out my build last week for "fun" to see how much it would be now. I paid $1,200 or so, now it would be around $2,150. I would have just not bothered at that price.

I forgot about the "not leveling" thing. I thought I was so clever as a kid when I realized it was better.

Considering the hardware in it and that it is a flip phone, I'd definitely call it over priced. I realize that it is going to be a low production run and they want to make some money, but $500 is too much for what it offers IMO. I am quite literally the prime market for such a phone, but the price and the forced browser block are stopping me.

This is such a bad idea, Bernie got duped hard by the AI hype man in his ear. I hope that this gets sunk in congress, which it probably will because A. Bernie is pushing it, and the GOP hates Bernie and B. I suspect enough of those same idiots will see this as taking from the poor billionaires C. A few sane people in congress will see what a dumb idea it is

Maybe Commodore saw this coming and that explains the crazy pricing of their linux flip phone.

Being too expensive doesn't mean they are necessarily gouging. My wife crochets blankets as a hobby, but she'd have to charge a stupid amount to sell them at a profit if she used decent yarn and valued her time at even minimum wage. Said blanket would be "too expensive" without a doubt.

Sacred 2 for PC. It is a top down action RPG (Diablo-like) that had dated graphics on release (it was still essentially 2D when everyone else had already gone 3D), it had tons of super cringe voice acting, and jankiness for miles. The game itself was just really, really fun, especially in co-op. The different characters and builds were really fun to play in a way that tend to get balanced out by dev in AAA games. My friends and I had a great time playing it, but it was clearly not a good game.

An Elton John edition would unironically look more acceptable.

I am literally that guy, but even I rarely need to look up something simple while I am out of the house. I don't need to be protected from myself. It is both condescending and dumb.

Eh, it happens. This was just one of the rare times I believed that I saw it coming.

They are definitely charging way too much, the price and the browser block are the only reasons I am not buying one. I think they could reasonably price it at $250 based on the hardware and that it will certainly be a low production run which massively increases the price. Also, that Sony with SailfishOS is both old (it was released over five years ago) and refurbished, not exactly a fair comparison.

I bounced off No Man's Sky hard at first, I just started playing it again 6+ years later and man what a difference. The game was a buggy shell of the game they had promised, but now it is unironically pretty great. I have encountered far, far fewer bugs now, so they may have addressed many of those you rememember.

Old timey? You are making me feel older than Yoda.

You can absolutely make baked mac like the left and have it be amazing, but I'm with you that most people don't make "proper home made" mac and cheese nearly as well as they think they do, even if the top looks ll delicious like in the pic. Coincidentally, the best mac and cheese I ever made looked like the right, but that was only because people were getting impatient so I decided to skip the baking part.

I did play it, but it didn't "do it" for me the same way the sequel did. It could still be worth a shot. If you do end up playing Sacred 2, make sure you do the quest chain involving the "concert". I won't say more so you can experience the wackiness.

A hud would be cool I suppose. You never know when you need to check someone's power level.

You mean my red GWAR shirts?

My general rule is that if the game title ends in "64" and doesn't start with "Mario", it probably sucks.

This is a great example in the thread. I also really liked DS3, it was very fun despite (or maybe because of?) the jank.